Recap: Pacers 99, Cavs 85 (Or, somebody cover Danny Granger)

Overview: A depleted Cavaliers team fell to the Indiana Pacers, who got a game-high 34 points from Danny Granger. Antawn Jamison led the Cavs in scoring with 19 points off the bench.

Cavs-Related Bullets:

The less said about this one, the better. The Cavs were missing their two best players on Saturday, and that’s a lot to overcome.

The team was able to hang in there early thanks to Hickson and Jamison hitting some tough shots, but the ball wasn’t moving and the team was a step slow defensively, and it didn’t take long for that to catch up with them.

Ramon Sessions had a predictably bad performance, forcing floater/pull-up after floater/pull-up en route to a 6-17 night from the floor. The maddening thing is that Ramon will show these great flashes — his cut behind a Gibson/Hollins pick-and-roll and the beautiful outlet he threw to Jamison were two of the best plays of the night. But when the offense stalls, he will plunge to the basket, and that’s not a winning strategy.

Jamison made some jumpers early, then started forcing it and choked the offense a bit. Eventually, everything evened out and he had one of his typical lines: 19 points on 16 shots, 9 rebounds, a three, a block, and a steal.

Hickson’s gotten way better with those 18-foot turnarounds and pull-ups than I ever thought he’d become, but some early makes proved counter-productive — the jumpers are nice, but his jobs are to run the offense from the high post and move without the ball for finishes at the rim.

The defense on Danny Granger was some shameful p0op. The Cavs lost him in transition and let him get good looks at threes. When he went to the basket, they didn’t stop him. When he pulled up, they were nowhere in the vicinity. The Cavs’ complete inability to guard opposing wings is one of their biggest issues right now.

Good interior defense, though — even with Varejao out, Hibbert never really looked comfortable down low.

The Cavs definitely got bested in the running game — Indiana turned long rebounds into run-outs, spaced the break well, and did a great job catching the Cavs with those transition threes.

A bright spot was Leon Powe, who moved well without the ball and made some nice plays when he got it in the paint.

Alright, that’s all for now. Cavs have a chance to get back to .500 when they host Philadelphia on Tuesday.

I keep hoping to see Manny get some time. He can guard wings as well as AP, and I could see him being as effective as a reckless Sessions. It’s clear he has some develpoing to do, but he certainly isn’t developing sitting on the bench. I would not start him at this point over AP or Sessions, but when those two aren’t being effective, then maybe it’s Manny time. Manny is an offensive minded player who really earned his spot on the team by committing to defense. He’s not a point but has a good enough handle on the ball and seems to make some good decisions. I’d really like him in the line-up with Jamison who would be the primary offensive weapon and Manny as the second. Oh well, I guess coach see’s something in practice that stops him from taking a chance.

I think manny just really needs to learn the offense first. I watched him in pre-season and he looks way more comfortable as the 2 guard in the half court, rather than a guard in the princeton. He doesnt handle the ball all that well for the offense that we want to run. I like him, and think he can be pretty decent, but I’m not sure about right now, so early in the season. I mean especially when we havent truly seen what our fully healthy team can do.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

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John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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